27 August 1997
Soggy start for couple on 'dream' island
By Tom Sheil
A couple moving home to their dream island had a nightmare journey there as a trailer with all their belongings got stuck in the sand and was submerged by a rising tide.
Most of the community on Inishbiggle Island off Achill came to the rescue of Jeremy and Doris Holt by salvaging whatever they could and dragging it to the shoreline.
But the Holts still lost some of their belongings including a cherished suite of furniture.
And treasured family photographs - the Holts have five grown up children - were reduced to a soggy mess but the couple are hoping they can be dried out again.
Yesterday, Mr. Holt, an Englishman who has lived most of his life in County Cork , expressed his deep appreciation to the people of Inishbiggle for their assistance and understanding.
The Holts are living in a converted 24 seater bus as they wait to make an island home they have bought inhabitable.
CATS AND A COCKEREL
The retired couple have brought three cats, a number of kittens as well as a cockerel and a hen to their dream hideaway. Explained Mr. Holt: "We discovered Inishbiggle some time ago and quite frankly fell in love with the place.
"The scenery was magnificent and the friendliness of the people remarkable. We decided to move here at the first available opportunity".
There's no ferry service to the island and the sole means of communication is by currach which means that the Holts faced considerable difficulties when it came to planning moving their furniture and other belongings.
LOW WATER
They placed all their belongings on a large trailer which was towed by several tractors from the mainland across several miles of strand from Ballycroy at low water.
But the trailer got stuck and was eventually submerged by the rising tide. A mechanical digger was used to extricate the trailer when the tide went out again.
"It's been quite an experience but I'm still glad we came here", Mr. Holt, whose new holding of over 24 acres is appropriately called "Digdeep Farm", stated.
The Holts' luggage disaster highlights once again the long running problem of communications between Inishbiggle and the mainland. A Bord Pleanala oral hearing into a cable car link proposal is due to be held in the Autumn.
Meanwhile, Jeremy and Doris are hoping to have renovated their new home before their family come to visit them. "Quite frankly, they think we're mad", Jeremy stated.
